Europe

Serbia vows to hunt Kosovo rioters

EU envoy in Mitrovica appeals to Serbs, as protesters gather for a sixth day.

25 Feb 2008 04:06 GMT

Some of those protesting in Mitrovica held up pictures of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president [AFP]

Mobs stormed the US embassy in Belgrade, Serbia's capital, on Thursday, after hundreds of Serbs burned down two border posts in north Kosovo in response to its declaration of independence.

Slobodan Radovanovic, Serbia's chief state prosecutor, said on Saturday that the authorities were searching for those responsible.

"We are collecting evidence and are identifying the culprits," Radovanovic said in a statement.

Police said they had arrested nearly 200 rioters on the night of the disturbances, the worst anti-Western violence seen on Belgrade's streets since the ouster of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serb leader, in 2000.

Embassies attacked

Rioters protesting international recognition of Kosovo's independence set fire to several offices of the US embassy and attacked the missions of Germany, Belgium, Turkey, Croatia and a number of other countries.